Saturday, June 7, 2014

Music Brings Us Together

What do you get when you combine a free concert in the park and people of four different generations? Unity. Community. Common ground. If everybody knows the lyrics to a song, suddenly they're all speaking the same language, and enjoying the moment together. There can be a huge difference in their ages, and it doesn't matter, because they're all having fun listening to familiar tunes. For some, they remember the songs from their youth. For younger people, they've heard the songs in a movie, or maybe they've listened to their parents' music and (gasp!) liked it. Classic rock and groups like the Beatles never go out of style.

Anything that brings people together rather than emphasizing how different we are, is a good thing. There's enough conflicting opinions today, enough of the "what's in it for me?" mentality, enough trouble in general in our overbooked lives.

So if you get a chance to step off the treadmill of your never ending schedule, go out on a warm summer night and listen to a concert. And don't feel silly about singing along, because if you look around you, lots of others will be singing too. And you'll feel it: a common bond with people you don't know. All because of music.